Pickled white asparagus with cream of parsnip

Today, I serve pickled white asparagus with cream of parsnip and exciting accessories!

Frank, our good, Dutch friend provides me often with great design porcelain which he has a special skill for finding everywhere. Like me, he shares a fascination for Scandinavian design and fortunately he is very willing to share with me.
A few days ago he came with this wonderful bowl created by Stig Lindberg for Gustavsberg, Sweden. It was designed in 1953 and was last manufactured in 1963. The bowl has a delicate pattern similar to the skin of a reptile and is therefore also rightly called Reptile.
With the unusual bowl in my hand, my brain started spinning thinking about what dish I could create to match the beautiful porcelain.

Of course, I wanted to make use of the fantastic white asparagus that is at this very moment coming out of the black soil here in Holland.
I combine my pickled asparagus with simple but exciting accessories that easily can be prepared in advance. It’s only the crips that should be served immediately when made, as they are it’s best crunchy.

How do I do it?
1. Prepare the pickle for the asparagus;
Add all ingredients to a saucepan. Bring to a boil and make sure everything is well mixed. Allow it to cool down completely. This can best be prepared a day earlier and stored in the refrigerator. It is important that it’s really cold.
2. Peel the asparagus very well with a potato peeler. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the asparagus and boil for 4 minutes. Drain the asparagus and place them warm in the pickle. Make sure that everything is covered. Set aside in the fridge. The asparagus should marinate for about 2 hours and preferably not much longer than that, as they can get a bit too tart otherwise.
3. Collect the pickled asparagus with a slotted spoon and let them drain on a paper towel. Serve with the accessories (or just as they are).

Dried white miso

How do I do it?
1. Preheat the oven to 70 ° C. Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spread the miso thinly and evenly over the baking parchment paper. This is the easiest to do by using a spatula.
2. Place the baking tray with miso in the oven and bake until completely dry, approximately 25 minutes. Keep an eye to it so it dosen’t get too dark, all ovens operate differently!
3. Crumble or grind the dried miso to a coarse powder, depending on what you prefer. Store the dried miso in an airtight jar. Sprinkle the leftover miso on pasta dishes, etc.

Roasted hazelnuts

Ingredients
1 dl / 65 grams hazelnuts (preferably without shell)

How do I do it?1. Place a dry skillet on heat and add the hazelnuts. Toast the nuts until soft brown and slightly roasted. Stir constantly to avoid them from burning.
2. Pour the nuts into a bowl and let it cool before chopping them coarsely.
If you roasted nuts in it’s shell, add them to a dry kitchen towel, tie the towel around the nuts and rolls back and forth. This way, you get rid of the bitter shell around them. Remove the nuts from the towel and chop roughly. Set aside until serving.

How do I do it?1. Scrub the skin of the parsnips and peal it of it in long strips (the peal is later to be used for crisps). Cut the parsnips in smaller pieces. Add the parsnip to a small pan together with the other ingredients. Cover with almond milk.
2. Cook for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Drain the vegetables in a wire strainer and keep the milk.
3. Mix parsnip and onion to a mash with a hand blender. Dilute the mash with almond milk until you have a fine, airy texture. Season it with salt, white pepper and some lemon juice to balance the sweetness. Let it cool off completely.

Crisps pf parsnip peal

Ingredients
The peal of 2 parsnips
A few sprigs of fresh tarragon
Olive oil
Salt flakes

How do I do it?1. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper.
2. Dry the parsnip peal with a paper towel. Place the peal and whole tarragon leaves on the baking parchment paper. Drizzle some olive oil and salt over and see that everything is well covered. Spread the peal on the tray (if not, they will not get crunchy!).
3. Bake the crips in the oven for just about 15 minutes. If needed stir once halftime through the baking. Make sure it doesn’t get burned!
4. Serve immediately.

For the serving

Serve the pickled asparagus together with the cream of parsnip on room temperature.
Garnish with the toasted hazelnuts, some flakes of the dried miso (don’t take too much as it is rather salt) and the crips. Sprinkle some of the ovenbaked tarragon on top together with some fresh leafs of tarragon. Serve immediately.